Two Times the Trouble
by The Lady Arturia
Summary: Eleven-year-olds have vivid imaginations, to begin with. Add two diaries, two identical-looking girls, one Metamorphmagus, and one nasty secret to the mix, and you get Teddy Lupin and a series of unfortunate events.


**For Emy**

* * *

 **Two Times the Trouble**

* * *

He rummaged around in the attic, trying to locate the trunk his grandmother had asked him to bring down so they could start packing all of his school things to prepare for his very first term at Hogwarts.

Spotting a trunk under a stain-covered mattress, he crinkled his nose and pushed the mattress off. After a bit of a struggle, he managed to pry open the lid and found that it was full of objects and memorabilia he didn't recognise. There was a whole stack of black diaries lined up in one corner, and he picked the very first one up, wondering if it belonged to his parents. His grandmother had never really shown him any of their things before, claiming that he was still too young. He set the diary down and began to look through some of the other things when his grandmother's voice called up to him.

"Teddy! Did you find it?"

He could hear the old wood creak as she climbed up the staircase and quickly shut the trunk's lid and pulled the mattress back on top. "Not yet!"

Realising he had forgotten to put the diary back, Teddy tucked it into the waistband of his shorts just as she entered the attic and swatted at the spiderwebs, giving him a few seconds to move away and pretend to come to her aid. The diary heavy in his trousers, he made up his mind to read it the first chance he got.

* * *

 _He found her by accident one day, as he wandered just outside of the fence that surrounded his grandmother's garden, and the moment she looked up, her gaze meeting his across the field of sunflowers, he knew he had found the girl of his dreams._

 _Her long, golden hair flowed down her narrow back and glistened in the light, making it seem as though she was the sun itself. Surrounded by flowers, she looked like a painting, her white dress and pale skin making her seem ethereal. There was something about her appearance that was familiar; as though he knew her from another time._

 _From the very first moment he laid eyes on her, he knew she was an unattainable dream. Yet, he wanted to persevere, for her cerulean gaze drew him in like no dream ever had before. Although he had an inkling that no good would come out of it, he decided that some things were worth pursuit regardless of the cost._

* * *

"Come _on,_ Teddy," Matt insisted, digging his elbow into Teddy's ribs. "Tell me who she is already!"

Teddy pushed his friend away with a sigh, exasperated with the blond's innumerous attempts at getting him to confess about some mysterious girl his friend was convinced he was dating. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You say that every single time! Now I'm starting to wonder if she's even real," Matt groused.

"Then stop asking me about her." When Matt crossed his arms and sulked like a five-year-old, Teddy rolled his eyes and sighed again. "Even if she _was_ real, I wouldn't tell you."

The blond threw his arms in the air and stood up, smacking Teddy on the head in the process.

"Hey!"

"Well, tell your imaginary girlfriend I send my regards," Matt said, tipping an invisible hat.

Teddy flipped him off. "I sure as hell won't."

"Because she ain't real!" Matt sang as he walked backwards, out of Teddy's room, causing Teddy to sigh yet again.

"Yeah, yeah, she ain't real," he muttered to himself.

* * *

 _He ran across the large garden, pushing aside the small bushes as he reached the apple tree and peered around it._

 _She looked up at him and broke into a smile, her clear blue eyes sparkling with mirth. She patted the ground beside her, and he sat down without complaint, watching as she reached up to tuck a strand of her golden locks behind her ear._

 _The summer sun filtered down through the leaves, splaying patterns across her short white dress, kissing her pink-tinged cheeks and upturned lips._

" _Here," she said, holding out a weirdly-shaped box-like object that looked like a sculpture of a cube gone wrong._

" _What is it?" he asked, taking it and examining it._

" _You don't know what it is?" she asked, and he looked up at the surprise in her voice._

" _Should I?_

 _She eyed him with a small frown wrinkling the skin between her brows, as though trying to decide if he was being serious or not. "How do you not know what a polaroid camera is?"_

" _Uhhh…" He paused at his blunder, having forgotten, yet again, that she was a Muggle, not knowing how to recover from his mistake. He knew what a magical camera looked like and the Muggle ones Arthur Weasley had, but none of them had looked like the one she was holding. "I've had a very sheltered upbringing?"_

 _Her frown deepened for a few seconds before disappearing and being replaced by an understanding smile. "I see. It's for the same reason you don't have any pictures in your house, isn't it?"_

" _Sure," he said, watching as she picked the camera up and turned the little gear at the top._

 _He had told her the previous time, when he had snuck her into the house, that there were no photos of his family anywhere because his grandmother didn't like seeing pictures of his dead parents. That was a more logical explanation than the fact that he had hidden them all because they were magical portraits that moved, after all._

" _Come closer; let's take a picture together," she said, pulling him out of his thoughts._

 _He moved his head close to hers so they were touching, looking into the little window in the camera that she pointed at, and smiled, blinking only after she moved the camera away with a short laugh. She pulled out a little white square from it and gave it to him, telling him to put it away and look at it later, when she was gone._

" _It's magical," she said with a giggle, and the irony made him smile._

 _Well, he supposed, she was as magical as it got._

* * *

"Who's this?"

Teddy looked up from polishing his broom to see Matt holding up a photograph of a blonde girl. He practically leapt across the room to snatch it from him and return it to its place at the back of his desk drawer.

"I told you to stop going through my stuff!" he snapped, irritated with how nosy his friend was.

Matt held his hands up and backed away, looking unapologetic. "Hey, you're the one that said to treat your home like my own."

"That doesn't mean I gave you permission to snoop through my stuff!"

"Alright, alright, sheesh." Matt settled down on Teddy's bed and picked up the broom. Teddy turned away for a moment to pick up the rag he had dropped, and in that short span of time, Matt had pulled open the drawer once again and said, "She sure is pretty, this one."

"Matthew, for Merlin's sake!" Teddy exclaimed, snatching the photograph from him and hiding it behind his back. "Have you _no_ shame?"

"Whatever, tell me who the girl is, first," Matt said, trying to grab the picture back.

They danced around the room as Teddy tried to keep the photograph out of his friend's reach. After he had kicked Matt in the shin and caused him to roll on the floor in pain, Teddy quickly dove behind his book shelf and stuffed the picture in a book.

Once Matt had finally gone home, Teddy returned to the bookshelf to retrieve the photograph and stared at it with a smile. "I miss you," he murmured, gently touching the face of the girl in the picture.

It was only several hours later, when he was curled up in bed and half asleep, that his mind whispered to him that they had taken the picture together but the photograph Matt had found only had her in it.

* * *

" _You keep a diary?" he asked as she pulled a small notebook with the word_ diary _written_ _on it from her bag._

" _I like writing down my thoughts and feelings so that I can go back and experience them again even if I can't remember the exact moment," she replied as she pulled out a pretty Muggle pen with a ball of fur on the bottom and opened her diary._

" _What're you writing?" he asked, rolling over to take a peek. She quickly moved away, shooting him a dirty look._

" _You can't look; it's private!" she said, flipping her long blond hair over her shoulder and turning her back to him._

" _Aw, c'mon. You wouldn't have brought it out now if you didn't want me to ask," he teased, twisting her hair around a finger and giving it a gentle tug._

" _No!"_

" _Pretty please?"_

 _She hesitated for a moment before looking over her shoulder. Her azure eyes grew darker as she watched him intently before saying, "Only a peek."_

 _He pushed himself up on his forearm, and she held out the notebook for a few seconds, hardly enough time for him to catch a few words, then shut it with a snap and replaced it in her bag._

" _Hey, no fair, I couldn't read a thing!"_

" _That's the point," she said, sticking her tongue at him, and he laid back and laughed, playing with the ends of her hair._

 _She looked down at him as he watched her, her smile causing small dimples to form at the edges of her mouth, her eyes growing darker still, so much so that they were almost the same shade as his._

 _After rummaging in her bag for a moment, she turned to him again. "Here," she said, holding out the diary, and he took it from her, confused. "This one's brand new. I brought it with me because the other one hardly had any pages left, but because you're so curious, I've decided to give it to you."_

 _He held the book to his chest and tilted his head to peck her on the cheek. "Thanks," he said shyly, and she nodded, turning away, the tips of her ears bright red._

* * *

"Teddy," he heard his grandmother call and quickly walked out of the bathroom and into his bedroom, his hair still wet.

She was standing by his desk, some of his T-shirts draped over one arm and a small, black notebook in her other hand. He recognised the book instantly, and his heart began to race.

"What is it, Gran?" he asked, trying to hide his nervousness as she looked up to eye him with a small frown.

"Where did you get this?"

"Someone gave it to me," he said, deciding to tell the truth.

Her frown deepened. "Don't lie to me, Teddy. You know how I feel about you being dishonest with me."

"I'm not lying, Gran," he said, taking a step towards her, and she turned to face him, her displeasure obvious. "I promise."

"Alright, then," his grandmother said, crossing her arms. "Who gave it to you?"

Teddy scratched his ear, embarrassed. "This girl I like."

An unknown emotion flickered through her eyes, and she pursed her lips. "Teddy, please. You and I both know that this diary belonged to your mother. I brought it down from the attic myself with all of the others when we were looking for your trunk. I don't know why you're lying to me about it, but I can assure you that I am very disappointed in you, Teddy." She sighed, her shoulder sagging and her expression turning sad. "I wouldn't have stopped you from reading her diaries if you had asked. After all, how else will you get to know what your mother was like?"

She stroked the diary's cover before holding it out to Teddy, and he took it from her, flipping through the empty book until it opened on the first page, where _Dear diary_ was written in the familiar slanting cursive he knew so well.

"I don't think this one's Mum's, Gran," he said, "because this one's empty."

His grandmother sighed. "She must've never gotten around to writing in that one," she said, her voice heavy with sadness. "Anyway, Teddy, if you find anything else that belonged to your parents, you don't have to sneak it away from under my nose. I would love to sit together with you and share those memories. You're going to start at Hogwarts soon; you're old enough to know. So don't lie to me again, OK?"

He nodded, still confused, staring down at the diary he was sure he had received from the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl of his dreams.

* * *

" _Hello, earth to Teddy!" she said, waving a hand in front of his face. "What's going on with you today?"_

 _He shook his head and offered her a smile to reassure her. "It's nothing. Just doing some thinking."_

 _She laughed, the tinkling sound making his heart flutter with joy despite his sullen mood. "Teddy Lupin, thinking!" she said, making a shocked face. "Who would've known he was capable of such a feat!"_

 _He tackled her then, and she squealed with laughter as he tickled her, flailing beneath him as she tried to escape his grasp._

" _No! Stop!"_

" _Teddy!" he heard his grandmother call, and he moved away quickly, peering over the bushes around the apple tree._

" _Be there in a minute!" he yelled. Without looking behind him, he said over his shoulder, "I'll be right back. Don't move."_

 _When there was no response, he turned around to find that she was gone. He was standing all alone in their secret spot, the palms of his hands still tingling from her warmth._

" _Teddy, where are you?"_

" _I'm coming!" he said, running out from behind the tree and across the garden, wondering where she had disappeared to so quickly._

* * *

"You know I never question you about what you do in your free time, right?" his grandmother said one morning as they were seated to eat breakfast.

"Yeah?" Teddy replied around a mouthful of toast.

She scrunched up her nose and waited for him to swallow his food before saying, "And I'm not going to start asking questions now, but I would rather you bring this girl you keep meeting in secret home than sitting out there in the sun. It's only getting hotter, and I don't need you passing out from a heatstroke right before school starts."

"Er," Teddy said, when she looked at him expectantly. "I'll mention it to her the next time I see her."

His grandmother broke into a smile, the corners of her eyes crinkling. "Good. I would love to meet her. I'm sure she's lovely, considering how much you adore her."

Teddy focused on his toast, trying to hide his embarrassment, and wondered what she would say when he officially invited her home instead of sneaking her in.

* * *

" _No."_

 _He blinked in confusion, expectant smile still in place as he processed the rejection. "Why not?" he asked, shocked by her immediate refusal of his invitation._

 _She fiddled with her hair. "What if she doesn't like me?"_

 _He relaxed, glad that she was simply nervous about meeting his grandmother and not that she didn't want to. "What's not there to like?" he asked, taking her hand. "I like you a whole lot."_

 _She giggled, swatting at him with her free hand. "Oh, stop."_

" _I mean it!"_

 _She ducked her face, her cheeks reddening. "...I like you too," she said, so softly that he almost missed it over the rustling of the leaves, and his heart soared higher than the bird circling overhead, allowing him to ignore how cold her fingers were to the touch._

* * *

"Do you like cross-dressing?" Matt asked as they sat on his bed playing Exploding Snap.

Teddy rolled his eyes. "If this is you trying to make conversation, then don't bother. I prefer the silence."

Matt motioned behind Teddy. "If you don't want me to ask, don't leave a bunch of girl's clothes lying around in your room." His eyes widened. "Unless…"

Teddy frowned, looking over his shoulder at what looked like a white dress lying atop his pile of dirty laundry, ignoring Matt tugging on his shirt and asking him if it belonged to his "mystery girlfriend".

"It's my mum's," Teddy blurted out without thinking, wanting to get Matt to stop pestering him. "Gran found a bunch of her stuff in the attic the other day and I was going through it. I spilt something on that dress so I thought I would wash it with the rest of my clothes."

Matt's expression turned somber and he looked down at the cards in his hand, and Teddy actually wished he hadn't said he preferred the quiet. After what seemed like a year of awkward silence, the cards in Matt's hands exploded, and both boys jumped back in alarm, pushing them off the bed quickly before they could set the sheets on fire.

Matt didn't bring up the dress again, but Teddy was left wondering how it had ended up in his room. _Did she leave it here by accident the last time she was here? Is it really one of Mum's dresses?_

* * *

" _Are you ready?" he asked her as they stood in front of the front door, hand in hand._

 _She nodded, although she looked nervous. He tightened the grip on her hand before pushing the door open. They made their way up the stairs, and he called out to his grandmother._

" _I'm in here," she said from his room, and they walked in to find her standing by the far wall, her back to the door._

" _Gran?" he called, and she slowly turned around, her eyes wide and her brows creased. He looked down at the dress in her hand and cursed himself for forgetting to put it away. "Ah, I was going to wash that—it's one of Mum's—"_

" _Teddy?" she asked, as though she didn't recognise him, and he frowned in confusion._

" _Yeah, Gran?"_

" _What… are you doing right now?"_

" _What do you mean?" He stepped into the room and made his way to his grandmother, stopping only when she dropped the dress and held a hand out, her expression a mixture of fear and dread._

" _Teddy, stop this tomfoolery this instant. I don't appreciate whatever joke you're trying to pull."_

" _Gran," Teddy said, his voice low. "Not in front of—"_

 _He turned to the right and saw that no one was by his side. Instead, his eyes fell on the mirror across the room, and he was surprised to see long blonde hair and clear blue eyes. He turned, thinking she was standing behind him, surprised when there was no one there._

" _Teddy, darling," his grandmother was saying, but his heart was racing and his ears were ringing. "Maybe it was a bad idea for you to read your mother's diary. I didn't think—I wouldn't have expected—Tara was a very nice girl, and what happened was an accident, Teddy, you have to know that."_

" _I—I don't know what you're saying," Teddy said, looking down, not recognising the dainty fingers or painted toes. "What—What's going on?"_

 _His grandmother reached out to take him by the arm and seat him on the edge of the bed. She held out the diary and pulled out a photograph from it. She showed him the picture of a girl he knew all too well—the girl of his dreams—and said, "This is Tara. She was a Muggle girl that lived near here. Your mother met her when she was around your age and they became the best of friends. One day, your mother decided to show Tara her Metamorphmagus abilities and morphed her hair and eyes to look like Tara's. Of course, that frightened Tara and she ran away."_

 _Teddy shook his head as his grandmother spoke, unable to comprehend anything she was saying, even though his subconscious mind was telling him that he knew this story—that he had read it before, in his mother's diary. He still wanted to deny all of it, though, because he couldn't seem to wrap his mind around what had happened._

" _Dora ran after her, intending to cast a memory charm so she wouldn't lose her friend," his grandmother was saying, unaware of his internal conflict, "but in her hurry to escape your mother, Tara slipped and fell and hit her head on a rock. Her sister found Dora sitting beside Tara's body and crying." His grandmother shook her head sadly. "Your mother never forgave herself for what happened." She squeezed his hand. "But, Teddy. It was an accident. Your mother was young; she didn't know better. She—Teddy?"_

 _He had risen to his feet, shaking his head in shock, trying to wrap his mind around the whole thing._

 _The Tara he knew… wasn't real? Tara had been a figment of his imagination this entire time? Then who was the girl he had spent all that time with?_

* * *

"So, am I ever gonna meet this dream girl of yours?" Matt asked as they stood waiting to board the Hogwarts Express. "Or are you going to tell me again that she doesn't exist?"

"Dream girl, huh," Teddy muttered, his mind blank. "She really was the girl of my dreams."

Matt glanced at him sideways, being perceptive of the situation for once. "Ah, damn. Sorry, mate." He slung an arm around Teddy's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll find an even better girl to dream of."

Teddy shrugged his friend's arm off his shoulder and stepped onto the train, startled momentarily when he caught his reflection in the glass, quickly changing his blue eyes back to their usual dark hazel and closing them.

"How did you do that?"

He opened his eyes to see a girl standing before him, her straight blonde hair falling down to her waist and her cerulean eyes shining with curiosity. "I had a hunch, but you really were a wizard, huh, Teddy?"

Confusion and panic overwhelmed him, and he was frozen in shock, unable to decipher whether or not the girl in front of him was real or just another hallucination that his mind was creating.

"Tara?" he whispered, wanting to know— _needing_ to know—if she was real.

She smiled.

* * *

 **A/n: Please note that Teddy's age in this story causes a lot of things to unfold the way they do. Some things are so ambiguous simply because he's so young.**

 **Emy's prompts: Next gen, Dark!AU.**

 **Hogwarts Assignment Task #10 Notable Witches and Wizards: Write about an unstable character.**

 **Writing Club:**

 **Disney Challenge:** Love Is An Open Door - Write about love at first sight.

 **Book Club:** **Aiko:** (object) journal/notebook, (word) sparkle, (word) dream, (dialogue) "Some things are worth pursuit regardless of the cost."

 **Showtime:** The History of Wrong Guys - (plot point) falling for someone you can't have

 **Amber's Attic:** Face Paint: Write about someone hiding who they truly are. (Here it's the fact that both Teddy and the girl hide that they're a wizard/witch.)

 **Count Your Buttons: Song:** "Disappear Here" by Bad Suns, **Object** : Sunflower

 **Lyric Alley:** Revealing the truth that was buried inside

 **Ami's Audio Admirations:** No Such Thing As The Number Six — Write about someone not believing in something real.


End file.
